Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. I loved absolutely everything about it. There was just something about the whole process of dressing up as someone—or something—else that excited me. 

In a way, you got to live a completely different life for one night. Well, sorta. I also grew up with the tradition of watching a horror movie of my choice with my mom and dad. Last year it was Phantom of the Opera. I'd seen that one many times.

But I wanted to dig a little deeper into the classics this time and decided on Frankenstein. My mom loved Frankenstein. I was hoping it would start to mend this icy rift between us regarding the elephant in the room.

But the movie was going to happen after the Halloween masquerade party that Nathan, the girls, and I were going to. Speaking of my boyfriend, he was going to pick me up but I decided the girls and I should ride together. It'd been awhile since we hung out and I figured it would be fun. 

And it was. We listened to a new CD that Lanie burned titled Halloween Mix. It was full of all the classics. I Put A Spell On You. That one was Bette Midler from Hocus Pocus. There was also Monster Mash and Thriller. Time Warp, from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. 

We sang along to all of them, and I had to admit, I missed having girl time. 

"We need to do this more often," I said to Harper and Lanie before turning my car off when we arrived at the party.

Lanie snickered from beside me as she got out. "Says the girl who can't stop spending time with her boyfriend." 

The three of us started walking up the long driveway to the giant house where the party was being held. One of the boys on the hockey team was throwing it, and the only reason I agreed to this was because I loved masquerade parties. And Nathan really wanted to bring me. 

When he mentioned the party to me, he wasn't shy about telling me exactly why he wanted to go. 

"I want to dance with you in front of everyone, gorgeous. I love showing you off. Showing them that you're my girl. Then when it's over, you and I are going to sneak off somewhere and I'm going to fuck you in your dress." 

Recalling his words caused a shiver to crawl down my spine. I was very much looking forward to the after part of this party. Nathan and my own little 'after party' I guess you could call it. The heavy tone of passion in his voice told me exactly what he had planned for after. 

"Where's Nate?" Harper asked as we approached the door. "He said he was meeting us here, right?" 

"He probably bailed," Lanie teased. 

Just as I went to open the door, someone came out of it, stumbling and clearly intoxicated. I held the door open and waited for them to pass. 

"Nathan didn't bail. Believe me. I'm sure he's just—"

"Hello, gorgeous." 

That voice had me smiling so wide my cheeks hurt. I turned around, and holy shit he looked good tonight. Dressed in a black tux, Nathan had his hair slicked back and wore the masquerade mask that I bought for him. This 'after party' needed to happen like...now. 

"Hey, yourself." 

I walked back down the small set of stairs to stand in front of him. He pulled me into his arms immediately, running a hot gaze over the length of my dress. 

"Do you know how sexy you look tonight?" Bending forward, he put his mouth to my ear. "You have no idea how bad I want you right now, baby. You look fucking beautiful tonight." 

"Thank you," I murmured, barely able to focus from the effect his words had on me. And the fact that I could feel how hard he was for me. "You look pretty beautiful yourself."

His chuckle had me aching for him even more. Putting an arm around my waist, he escorted me inside. "Let's go, gorgeous. The sooner we do this, the soon we can do...other things." 

Hearing those two words reminded me of the first time in the tree house. And I loved other things. 

"Maybe we can skip the party then, hm?"

"Oh no," he said with a smile. "We are at least staying for an hour."

"Fine," I grumbled as we stepped into the house. 

Everyone split up immediately. Harper went chasing after that British hockey player who was chatting up some other blonde. Lanie went I don't know where. 

"Yo, Nate! Over here!"

Nathan and I both turned our heads in the direction of Nick's voice. He was standing by the pool table, red solo cup in hand. 

"Go ahead," I said to him. "I'll go get us some drinks and meet you over there." 

Nathan glanced down at me with a frown. "You sure?" 

"Yeah. Go see Nick. I'll grab our drinks then come kick your ass at a game of pool."

He flashed me a sexy smirk before cupping the side of my face. "You are so fucking incredible, you know that right?"

I scrunched up my nose playfully. "Yeah, I know. But I never get tired of hearing it." He gave me a soft kiss that quickly turned into something that gave me inappropriate thoughts. I pulled away and nodded in the direction where Nick was waiting. "Go. I'll be right there." 

Finally, Nathan went to talk to Nick and I headed towards the large kitchen. It was packed with people pouring shots of vodka and tequila. I told Nathan before coming here that I was fine with it if he wanted to drink. But he said he didn't want to. 

So, when I got to the fridge, I grabbed a can of coke for him. I wanted a Sprite for myself, but they only had it in the bottle. Pulling it out of the fridge, I grabbed one of those red solo cups and poured some in it. 

Before I even got a chance to screw the cap back on, I felt a pair of hands on my waist. With a smile I said, "I thought I told you to go wait with Nick." 

Next thing I felt was Nathan brushing his lips against my neck. Unable to stop myself, I tilted my head further to the side. I loved when he kissed my neck. 

Accept, he wasn't really kissing my neck.

When I tried to turn around, those hands gripped my waist tighter than before. The nagging feeling in my stomach told me what I already knew. 

This wasn't Nathan.  

"What happened to your hair?"

I glared at my best friend before lining up the pool cue to take my shot. "What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about." From the corner of my eye, I saw Nick gesture his arm up and down my body. "Look at you. I mean, holy shit. Your hair is all pretty boy looking. And you're wearing a goddamn suit."

"So are you."

Nick scoffed. "Yeah, because I've been to these parties before and I'm friendly with the hair gel and making myself look presentable. You on the otherhand...Who are you?" 

I took the shot and missed. Straightening, I looked at Nick. "I'm the same old Nate. Just better than the asshole I was before." 

"True. I won't argue that," Nick chuckled. "So where's your girl?" 

My eyes drifted to Karma. "She's right over..."

"What? What is it?" Nick's worried gaze followed mine. "Oh, fuck." 

I don't remember how I got over to her so fast. There were so many people here that I didn't even know if I ran into one of them. The only thing I did know, was that some asshole was all over my girl. And she didn't like it. 

I could see the tenseness in her body as I came barreling towards them. Even though I couldn't see her eyes, I knew how they looked right now. She was scared. 

"Get the fuck off!" I yelled, reaching for the sonofabitch's shoulder. Wheeling him around, I didn't even bother with the who-the-hell-are-you's or the what-the-fuck-are-you-doing's.

Nope. Instead, it was simple math. 

My fist. His face. Repeatedly. 

I didn't know who pulled me off of him, but suddenly I was being held back in an iron grip. The asshole was bleeding from his nose and mouth. He had a goddamn mask on so I couldn't tell who it was. Before I got to even ask, he jumped up and ran out of the house. 

Not caring who was holding me back, I took a step forward to chase this asshole down. 

"Nathan?" 

Karma's shaky voice was the only thing that kept me from finding that bastard and beating the shit out of him. Again. 

"Nathan, who was that? Why did he—"

Terrified to the bone, I pulled her into my arms and shut my eyes. Thank God I got here when I did. If I hadn't seen what I saw...Fuck. I was losing my damn mind. 

Karma pulled out of my arms and that's when she saw my hand. "You're bleeding! And your hand is swelling!" 

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not. I'm grabbing some ice. Then we'll go outside and take care of this." 

I waited while she got the ice and my eyes went to that motherfucking red solo cup. That goddamn bastard. Shit was going to hit the fan when I found out who he was. 

Karma returned with some ice wrapped in a towel. "Okay, let's go." 

When she reached for the red solo cup, I took it from her. "No!" Clearing my throat, I tried to tone it down. "Uh, sorry." I grabbed the can of Coke she got for me. "Let's go. We can share this." 

She shrugged and started for the door. I let her go first, then reached behind my back and knocked the red solo cup into the sink. Following her outside, she found a quiet place by a big oak tree in the backyard to sit and ice my hand. There was barely anyone around us and I was grateful for that. 

After I finally sat down and allowed my body to relax a little, the adrenaline wore off and my hand started hurting like a motherfucker.

As if she read my mind, Karma sat down on my lap and took my injured hand into hers before placing the ice on it.

We sat in silence for several minutes, and feeling her body safe and flush against mine helped me to relax a little.

When she brushed her free hand through my hair, I opened my eyes and met her gaze. "You aren't going to ask me..."

I could barely finish that sentence. I wasn't a violent person, and knowing that she saw me beat the shit out of somebody made me feel sick.

"No," she replied softly and dropped her gaze. "I know you, Nathan. You wouldn't have lost it like that just because some guy touched me."

She was right. If some guy randomly touched her, I might slug him once, sure. But this...this was different.

"Karma—"

"He put something in my drink. Didn't he."

Not a question. Because my girl was fucking smart and knew the truth. With my left hand, I reached up and removed her mask. Then I removed my own.

Her eyes met mine and I leaned back against the tree. "God, Karma. I'm sorry. I saw red, baby. When I saw that asshole put something in your drink...dozens of fucked up scenarios went through my head about what could have happened if—"

She cut me off. "Don't. I'm okay, Nathan. You have nothing to apologize for. I'm here with you. You got me."

Those same three words I said to her in Florida. "Fuck yeah, I do. I got you." I pulled her tighter against me before I whispered, "You know I would never let anything happen to you, don't you, baby?"

She nodded before pressing her lips against mine. "Right back at you."

Not long after that, Harper and Lanie found us in the backyars and we filled them in briefly on what happened. Karma wanted to leave and I wanted to get her the hell out of there.

I had the feeling she wanted to come stay with me tonight, but I knew she also had plans to watch a movie with her parents.

So when I offered to sneak into her room after they went to bed, she accepted it immediately. To be honest, I think I wanted to have her safe in my arms more than she did.

For many, many nights after this. At least until I found out who he was.

Then that asshole was going to have fucking hell to pay.

***

Hope you enjoyed this! Wonder who tried to slip something in Karma's drink...